Whole House Solar PV, not a DIY, installed by Astrum Solar/ Direct Energy Solar
About | Information | History | Online | Facts | Discovery
Whole house solar power system grid tied rated at peak performance of 10kw. This video is NOT in any way affiliated with Astrum Solar or any other Solar Power company... it is for information purposes only and shows the home I designed and constructed myself... solar power was something I wanted someone else to install as I felt it was important to have the system warranty in the event that something fails to function as designed. The panels are the New Pluto Technology which prove more efficient in generating energy on overcast, rainy and even snow days. If the sun is shining, power is generated even through several inches of snow. That technology pushed my decision to go ahead with it here in the North Eastern United States. Smaller homes with less suitable roof spacing will need higher density panels, or possibly have a yard array... Astrum Solar offered us the option of roof mounted or yard mounted (yard mounted would have been more efficient in it's orientation to the sun) but I wanted it off the ground. My roof shingles are rated for 40 years, the panels are rated to perform at 80% rated efficiency even after 25 years, so I think we are in good shape. We can add more panels later if needed and we left space to do that on one array.
Comments
-
Would recommend a battery backup to your grid-tied system...jus' sayin'. Great video. :)
-
UPDATE... Astrum Solar, Now Direct Energy Solar, replaced a low performing panel with a new warrantied panel (GREAT), then returned, needed the replacement panel for another job, installed a "temporary" silver trimmed panel... "Temporary" panel has been in place for TWO Years and still waiting... and waiting... the temp performs "ok" and is ugly, would love to have the warranty replacement.. don't think it's going to get here.. ever.
-
My standard electric bill averages $185.00 a month (Las Vegas, Nevada). I have no pool or anything excessive. Our Summer AC kicks in about mid May and we shut it down about mid October. In June, we use average 56 KWH per day. Or an average of 2.33 KW an hour. Counting loss in efficiency due to conversion, etc, in daylight in summer we would get about 8 hours of viable sunshine (almost every day is clear, hot and sunny) so we would need a minimum of about 9 to10 KW worth of collection on the property. Current PV systems are running about $3,300.00 per KW of collection. That gives a proper estimate (give or take) of about $26,000.00 for a whole house collector that would meet our peak demand. With state and federal subsidy, that price to me could drop to about $12,000.00, or about the price of a new motorcycle or a good used car. Payments on such an amount for a five year note comes to about $255.00 a month (less the insurance). But, the down side is, 3 or 4 years after installation, the batteries would need to be replaced and in 7 years, the solar panels would be down to about 60% of their new efficiency, meaning another 6-$8,000 maintenance cost. or about $150.00 a month since installation,driving my total out of pocket cost to about $405.00 per month. Of course, after the installation is paid off, the maintenance cost would drop to about $200.00 a month depending on annual inflation rates and how much routine maintenance I can do myself, such as replacing batteries, incidental repairs to inverter, cables, and the occasional replacement of a panel now and then. I might need professional help or hired casual labor now and then, making this cost even more. If my panels were to produce excess power in the winter, (our demand in 6 cooler months drops to about 20KWH per day) leaving about 2-3 KWH per daylight hours(collection would be about half of what we could collect in summer) and the sale back to the power company would net some rebate we might get down to an average cost of the PV system to a hopeful $150.00 to $200.00 a month. Saving us, after 7 years or so from installation,about 50 bucks a month...and me having to spend a significant portion of my free time on maintenance and system supervision. So, with all this in mind, I have decided to avoid going solar for now. By the time I am off the grid entirely, through death, these things might begin to make economic sense. But, for just getting the good feeling that I am doing something for the planet, it's not quite ready yet.
-
Did you replace the roof shingle? If your shingles need to be replaced before the solar panels then that's going to be a big cost. Will they at least last as long as the solar panels? How long should the solar Panels be expected to last?
-
excellent video.....just show the power and development of solar p.v systems as a whole.
-
If there is no battery bank or anything how do you have power at night? Unless you are feeding from the electric company...?
-
Very cool! I am seriously considering adding one of these systems to my home. I run a wood shop and power gets expensive quickly!
As a side benefit do the solar panels provide a small insulation barrier from the suns hot rays reaching the roof?
Just that alone would keep the home cooler by 20 degrees. -
I'm new to micro inverters. Is the DC voltage inverted to AC on the roof? If so then how do all those inverters synchronize the phase output?
-
I like this video....make me think our world changing ....maybe at our last days their be not source of power....you have to raise your own food....cost of living the new way to go....beats a gas generator just in case the gas line is so long people trying to get gas there none .....way to go solar......
-
I feel like chicken TONIGHT chicken tonight
-
Wow I need some new vans like this outfit, maybe I don't charge enough ? I don't care for all those electronics or micro inverters up on the rooftops under the panels for real in our Texas heat, when you don't have any shade, it seems silly to spend the extra money. I don't believe some installers realize the issues I think on service in the future also, this site does seem to have 3 faces so would be fun installing maybe 2 string inverters. yes you may get a little more production and yes you see the data on each panel, so I guess. seems to me simple integrated panel optimizers are coming.
-
Thanks!!
-
And the chickens are super awesome :) I love them ! Thank you very much !
-
Awesome living in a green environment. I have a great respect for people who appreciate our mother nature. Best wishes..!
-
You are correct regarding the ecology of solar power systems... the clean energy return needs to operate an average of 3 years just to off set the energy consumed and waste generated to manufacture the components in a system... thanks for posting!
-
Nice. I looking into solar pv with some battery back up, simply to keep some things functioning and have some lights and tech equipment battery charging. I have 5kw generator BU anyway. After reading about carbon footprint, I've discarded that point. There is all kinds of fossil fuel/chemical use at the mfg end of it. So I'd just do it for eventual cost saving and having a bunch of cool stuff to learn/play with. Thanks.
-
26K
-
at the time when you bought this what price did you pay if you don't mind
-
10 KWH
-
It's a grid tied system... with a net meter. This means, back feeding the utility with my excess electricity gives me credits of electricity that the utility gives me back when it's dark, or during those long winter overcast days/weeks. I don't pay for electricity that I generate and get the energy back from the utility also free. I pay a 9.00/month connection fee though...
13m 5sLenght
81Rating